This invention relates to transferring articles and more particularly to transferring lightweight articles such as containers made of thin-walled plastic material from a chute assembly to a conveying means.
It is well known to mold thermoplastic materials into articles such as lightweight containers, e.g. bottles, typically weighing from about 15 to 250 gms., and, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,991, to transfer them from the molding area to a downstream location via a conveying duct using partial vacuum therein as a transfer assist.
As far as is known, however, systems for transferring such lightweight articles in a trouble-free manner at high commercially practicable rates, particularly when necessary to present them in an orderly spaced arrangement to the downstream conveying means, are noticeably absent in the prior art.